Tag Archives: 12 Monkeys

Have you ever been at a loss as to what to watch? Too many shows to pick from? We’re here to give you our opinions on what we feel is worth watching. Check it out and then let us know in the comments below what you’re choosing for tonight!

Phoebe’s Choice

Syfy debuts season 4 of 12 Monkeys tonight, and you better hold on to your era-appropriate hats because it’ll all be over in three weeks. Talking time is always confusing with this show that revolves around time travel and a war to constantly nudge history by two opposing sides: the Army of the Twelve Monkeys and the inventor of the time travel machine: Dr. Katarina Jones. But this year they will be dropping 3 episodes at a time, over three weekends, as they continue to experiment with tight summer schedules. This show has been brilliant from the jump and is easily the best reboot this side of Karate Kid Cobra Kai.

Last year’s finale opened with two young children ghost hunting in a haunted mausoleum, where they found Jennifer Goines. Jennifer was waiting for a dying man. Far in the past in 1881, Cole and Cassie finally caught up to the timespace that their son Athan was in before he chose to go back to the future and assume his destiny as the foretold Witness. All three were wearing those neato time travel jackets, and a cat and mouse chase across time ended with all three of them stranded in “the house” in 1959 – the paradoxical point outside of timespace where he was conceived, which should no longer exist because of changes to the fabric of reality.

In the 2140s, Jones had 12 Monkeys lieutenant Olivia imbibe the magic tea leaves from the red forest to enter a vision state to figure where in time they were. She was determined to stop the Witness. He told her his location, knowing the Army would come for him if they knew where he was. As Olivia came out of the vision, the Witness revealed itself to her, unmasking and showing their true identity. Aided by her daughter and the remnants of the Daughters an old form of Jennifer once led, Jones surrounded Cole, Cassie, & Athan, threatening them at gun point. She wryly pointed out in one of the best lines of the season, “What happens next, happens last.”

During that standoff, a lightning storm erupted, announcing the arrival of time-traveling city from the year 3000 and home base to the Army of the 12 Monkeys: Titan. Inside the house, we got a Mexican standoff: two moms, one dad, a son, and a daughter all pointing guns at each other. Athan got shot in the chest, but the time travel jacket got him out before he had time to die. In the temple of the Monkeys, Olivia killed the Pallid man, thusly ascending to the highest rank in their hierarchy. We were then shown how “recently” she had escaped holding in Jones’s compound and killed Deacon in the process. She was told by Jones, “The Witness is dead,” as she’d just shot Athan. After a moment of shitty diatribe, Olivia stabbed (killed?) Jones.

Jennifer finally got the dying man she was waiting for when Athan arrived in her mausoleum. She nursed him back to health, and he returned to rescue Cole & Cassie, only to be slashed by Olivia. After, he revealed she was always meant to be the one behind the mask, the true Witness. After that, all of the “good guys” time ported out. We ended the season with Cole as a child in 2015. A slip of paper with the iconic image of an ouroboros drawn on it, (a snake in a circle eating its own tail). Cole’s father mentioned Cole’s mother.

I can’t wait to see where this season goes, and we won’t have to wait long to see. I know they are daring to go even further in the past than last season’s use of Victorian England. And Jennifer is going to make some huge changes and impacts based on an interview I read recently. Just gotta get me one of them nifty time travel jackets, and I’ll be set.

On tonight’s first episode, “The End,” the final conflict with the Army of the 12 Monkeys begins when the Witness returns to Project Splinter. Then on the second episode, “Ouroboros,” Travelers come face to face with ghosts from their past when they find themselves maneuvering around their own timelines. Finally, on the third episode, “45 RPM,” Cassie travels back in time to confront a younger Olivia while Cole helps Jennifer find the meaning behind her final Primary vision.

Don’t miss the first three episodes of the final season tonight on Syfy starting at 8/7c.

The last few years, Syfy has really raised the bar for science fiction television fare in my opinion. Aside from Black Mirror, four out of five of my top five sci-fi shows are on Syfy. I’d actually rank The Expanse & Dark Matter higher in that hierarchy than Black Mirror, despite its extraordinary writing. I guess maybe I am more interested in episodic shows. Or maybe I am captivated more by teams of outlaws fighting impossible odds and usually coming out on top.

Whatever the explanation may subconsciously be, I love a bunch of the shows they run these days, including two that feature Canadian rocker turned voice actor Jeff Teravainen: 12 Monkeys and Dark Matter. My constant use of hashtags and Twitter have led me to a bunch of my favorite TV stars the past year, and sometimes you luck out and they #FollowBack, which leads to chances to ask them to do interviews, bringing us right here to the phone interview I recently conducted with Jeff.

If you’ve never watched either show, now is your chance to binge watch it all. Then come right back and read this fun interview I did just in time to mark the season three finale of Dark Matter, tonight on Syfy!!

PlanetPhoebe: On Dark Matter, you play as Lieutenant John Anders, who has a history as an undercover agent alongside Six, back when he was working for the Galactic Authority. Season three opened with you holding Three in custody while he saved your ass a few times from the attack drone, which was after both of you. It was a chance to see you working closely with Anthony Lemke for a change instead of when we usually see Anders deal mostly with Six played by Roger Cross. What was it like working with Anthony this time around?

Jeff Teravainen: It was amazing. I knew him from before as well. He’s just a great guy. That’s the thing about Dark Matter. For me I always said that they are like the core family and I was like the very close cousin. And I got treated that way: “Come over for dinner. Let’s hang out and all have a great time.” So we have a real relaxed atmosphere with the actors/producers, everybody. We just bounced stuff off each other. It was a real pleasure to work with him just in a professional manner. It’s fun to watch how other people work and see what they do. Yeah like you experiment and stuff. I learned a fair bit on that episode too. Vaughn Murphy, who directed… I’ve known him forever as well, so I was excited to work with him. I learn things like I am told how consistent I am on takes. And I like that, but at the same point, both of them were pushing me to do different things here and there. Since then I don’t think I’ve done the same take twice, and I think that’s basically on their advice. So yeah, we had a ball. We had a scene where he was gonna be on top of me and I remember I was concerned about my breath, ’cause he was gonna be over me for so long. And then on the first take, he went into the snack truck and went for something heavy on the hummus, and I decided, oh then I’ll go grab something there too. For a minute, it was biological warfare there.

Like a phantom fleeting at the corner of your eye, blink and you just might miss it. With the light bulbs flickering… An audible draining of the air from space that just impossibly popped in or out of existence… That is what 12 Monkeys season three was like for me. Last weekend, Syfy decided to take a page out of the Netflix playbook and drop the whole season at once. They staggered it slightly, airing blocks of shows on Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, but I had it all finished by brunch Tuesday.

Based on the 1995 Terry Gilliam sci-fi film of the same name, both stories are iterations of a 1962 French film entitled La Jetée. A central theme in all versions is time travel from a post-Apocalypse to a time before the disaster, in hopes of averting it. Also central to all three incarnations is causality in time travel, unalterable tragedy, and love that burns eternal outside of time and space.

Season three began in the far future, where the last one ended: with time-displaced scientist Cassandra Railly being held hostage in the year 2163 by the elusive cult the Army of The Twelve Monkeys. Railly, over the last two seasons, had been working with fellow traveler Cole to stop a virus that was released by the Monkeys in about 2016. In late season two, lost in time, untethered from their team in 2040, the two of them had made a simple life in which they finally explored their love for each other. Shortly thereafter, the Monkeys lured her to their base, the time-traveling city Titan, to kidnap her. Their reason was startling: she was now pregnant with a baby that was destined to become the messiah of the Monkeys, the foretold Witness, who has guided them through looping timelines the whole run of the show.

Have you ever been at a loss as to what to watch? Too many shows to pick from? We’re here to give you our opinions on what we feel is worth watching. Check it out and then let us know in the comments below what you’re choosing for tonight!

Kyle’s Choice

Tonight, Syfy’s end-of-the-world time-traveling series, 12 Monkeys, returns for its penultimate season with a special binge-worthy 3-night event. Syfy is airing entire 10-episode third season over the course of the next three nights! Tonight, the first four episodes air back-to-back with limited commercials. Then, the remaining six episodes will be aired in two 3-hour blocks on Saturday and Sunday night.

The series follows the story of time traveler James Cole (Aaron Stanford), who was sent back in time to prevent a cult known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys from unleashing a deadly virus that wipes out most of the world’s population. Cole meets modern day virologist, Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull), and enlists her help in his quest as they try to locate and identify the mysterious leader of the Army, known only as “the Witness.” While Cole and Cassie have the help of their ragtag team in the future and the assistance of the seemingly crazy Jennifer Goines (Emily Hampshire, Schitt’s Creek), who has a knack for being able to see into the future, the Army of the Twelve Monkeys always seems to be one step ahead of them.

As the second season came to a close, Cole and his crew traveled to Titan to stop the Army’s attack but were unprepared for the fact that Titan itself was the Witness’s machine. The group soon found themselves separated – Deacon was captured, Jennifer was splintered to a French battlefront in 1917, the Striking Woman took Ramse to a reunion with his son, and Cassie was splintered into the future in 2163. She found herself surrounded by messengers as the Pallid Man informed her that she was actually carrying the Witness inside her.

I’m thrilled that we are finally going to get a continuation of that jaw-dropper of a reveal – that Cole and Cassie’s son was in fact the Witness that they had been searching for all this time! What plans does the Army have for the mother of their unborn leader? Will Cole be able to find/rescue Cassie, and how will he take the news about his son? How will our group get back together, and will they be able to stop the Army from completing their plan to destroy time itself – and will they need to sacrifice the child in order to do so?

I’ve checked out the first few episodes of the new season, and I am so happy this show is back. It’s SO good! The writers waste no time in introducing interesting new twists and mysteries that will play out over the course of the season. And based on what they’ve done in previous seasons, I have no doubt that we are in for a well-planned and executed roller-coaster of a ride over the next 3 nights! I can’t wait to see what happens and where they leave us going into the fourth/final season. Plus, there are some amazing guest stars this season, including Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Hannah Waddington (Game of Thrones) and James Callis (Battlestar Galactica).

On tonight’s premiere, “Mother,” in the apocalypse of 2163, a desperate Cole searches for Titan. Meanwhile, a captive Railly is faced with an impossible choice as the 12 Monkeys await the arrival of The Witness. On the second episode, “Guardians,” while searching for Jennifer Goines in post-WWI France, Cole and Jones encounter a dangerous group of time-travelers: the Guardians.

Then on the third episode, “Enemy,” bonds of trust are tested when Ramse returns to the facility with an old enemy held captive. How far will Cole and Jones go for the answers they need? And finally, on the final episode of the night, “Brothers,” Ramse and Cole splinter to 2007 expecting either a trap – or a final chance to kill the Witness. But when Cole discovers a heartbreaking truth, he’ll discover that the mission was both.

The action starts tonight on Syfy at 8/7c.

I’ll also be watching/recording Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Toy Box, and Ginormous Food.

Have you ever been at a loss as to what to watch? Too many shows to pick from? We’re here to give you our opinions on what we feel is worth watching. Check it out and then let us know in the comments below what you’re choosing for tonight!

Kyle’s Choice

Syfy’s 12 Monkeys continues to be a thoroughly entertaining series in its second season. Last week Cole and Cassie had to splinter back to 1944 in order to try to stop members of the Twelve from killing someone important to the timeline. Cole and Cassie didn’t get to the man in time, but fortunately for them, the Messengers had accidentally killed the wrong person. The intended target was actually the dead man’s son, who shared the same name. Cole and Cassie tracked the younger Tommy down at a mental hospital and discovered that he behaved very much like Jennifer Goines. He seemed to easily comprehend why they were there and where they had come from. However, he had already accepted his fate that he was destined to die that day, and no matter what Cole and Cassie tried, they couldn’t stop it. Meanwhile, in 2044 Deacon wanted Ramse dead and even drove him out to dig his own grave. However, Tommy’s death in the past caused a paradox that rippled into the future – the leaves in the forest started turning red and the guys found themselves in grave danger (no pun intended) from a storm of temporal anomalies.

Ramse managed to save Deacon from getting sucked into an anomaly – perhaps this will finally end their feud? But what other side effects have these temporal anomalies caused in the future? Cole and Cassie had been knocked unconscious in the past when the police arrived, and Jones had lost their connection – how are they going to explain what happened, avoid being arrested, and find a way to splinter back home? What are the Messengers planning next, and can our gang manage to get one step ahead of them this time?

On tonight’s episode, “Emergence,” Jones reluctantly places her trust in Ramse to bring Cole and Cassie safely home after they get stranded in the year 1944. As Ramse looks forward to this chance to atone for his sins, Jones explores the true nature of time with old Jennifer Goines.

To see if Ramse can bring Cole and Cassie home, tune in to Syfy at 9/8c.